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SAN DIEGO - The third-seeded UC Irvine men's tennis team upset top-seeded and 55th-ranked UC Santa Barbara, 4-2, to claim the Big West Tournament title Sunday at Barnes Tennis Center.
 
It is the Anteaters' (17-6) fourth Big West championship and first since 2011.
 
"I'm so proud of how we won because it wasn't easy and it took so much heart," said head coach Mike Saunders. "We had to come back and fight through the adversity of not getting the doubles point when we probably should have won it. Then we were down in some matches, but that's been our thesis all year long, just don't go away and we'll get four somewhere, and that's what we did today. I'm really proud of our competitive effort."
 
Riccardo Roberto and Matthew Sah got out to a hot start in doubles, taking a 4-0 lead before the Gauchos' Victor Krustev/Pablo Masjuan got on the board. The 'Eater duo kept the momentum, running away with the 6-1 victory at No. 2.
 
Minutes later, UCSB pulled even as Gianluca Brunkow/Stefano Tsorotiotis defeated Ali Amiri and Lawee Sherif, 6-3, at the third position.
 
All eyes then turned to Court 1 where Emmanuel Coste and Noah Zamora were locked in a seesaw battle with Kai Brady/Phillip Jordan. The match saw four tie scores before UC Santa Barbara made a late run for the 6-4 point-clinching win.
 
The Gauchos (17-6) went up 2-0 with a straight-set victory at No. 5 singles, but Rithvik Krishna answered with a 6-4, 6-4 triumph at No. 6. Krishna was trailing 4-1 in the second set before taking the next five games to secure UCI's first point. It was his third consecutive win and second of the Big West Championships.
 
Mike Mkrtchian then made it 2-2 after upending Brady in a tiebreaker. Mkrtchian was down 6-5 in the third, but he rallied for a 6-4, 0-6, 7-6 (4) victory.
 
Zamora also made a big comeback against Krustev at the third position to give UC Irvine its first lead of the match. Zamora raced out to a 6-3 win in the opening set before dropping a 6-1 decision. He then found himself down 5-2 in the final frame, but dug deep for the 7-6 (4) triumph.
 
Fittingly, it was Coste who clinched the victory in a meeting of two ranked opponents at the top of the lineup. It was a tightly-played match from start to finish with No. 75 Coste outlasting No. 120 Jordan, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, for the title.
 

BIG WEST CHAMPS!!!!! ?? pic.twitter.com/F83HeG9EVG

— UCI Men's Tennis (@UCImten) May 1, 2022

The Anteaters earn the Big West's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and will learn their opponent in tomorrow's selection show that will air at 3 p.m. on NCAA.com.
 
NOTES
• UC Irvine defeated the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds to win their fourth Big West Tournament title.
• UCI will be making its first NCAA appearance since 2011.
• The 'Eaters snapped the Gauchos streak of six consecutive Big West titles.
• The Anteaters' 17 overall wins are their most since the 2016 squad went 17-9.
• Noah Zamora and Mike Mkrtchian both went 3-0 in singles at the Big West Championships.
• Zamora and Mkrtchian lead the team with 13 and 12 dual-match singles wins, respectively.
• Emmanuel Coste had his sixth match-clinching win of the season.
• Coste improved to 10-4 at No. 1 singles.